Difficult, but here goes:
What would represent my family history:
1 A spadeful of sandy but fertile soil, well-manured by the cattle ancestors also farmed (no, I've not actually got one to hand, but I did once take a small sample in a plastic bag)
2 A sheep's fleece and cattle hides (other ancestors, leather workers and saddlers), and a spool of silk (weaving)(No, not got them, either, although there's a very tired old luggage strap I'm told was made by one)
3 A bag of carpenter's tools (ships' carpenters and joiners in my line, and I have a very few old woodworking tools still) , and an old paint kettle and set of (now perished) rubber rollers and signwriter's brushes, shedding hairs gently.(representing later occupations of family members)
4Two boxes, one a "Queen Mary" soldier's box, containing my paternal grandfather's WW1 medals, and the other with (most) of my own father's WW2 medals
5 A "starter tree" ( with what I later found out were lots of errors, but it got me started
6 An old watercolour box, its dried-up pans replaced over the years, dating back to my grandparent, and used by my mother and myself, and a tatty old porfolio with a few fragile studies in it by Mum and grandfather.
7 A cardboard folder of anonymous family photographs that represent constant frustration.
8 Grandmother's old cameo ring - worn often, and some of her other jewellery.
9 (OH's) a cobbler's last, retained after his father had learned that skill in the Army in WW2
10 An envelope of old greetings cards, invitations, and tickets, including granparents' ticket to Canada, and later one back to England
-And the thing I most wish that I still had? The excellent upright German made piano that the above grandmother bought and took with her everywhere. It was donated at last by my parents to a chapel.
TY